Nurses push
Legislature
for changes
, say patient ratios unsafe

Published: Friday, November 14, 2008

ENRIQUE RANGEL

AUSTIN - Texas, like the rest of the nation, has an acute shortage of nurses, and though too few schools and teachers are part of the problem, the biggest reason is inadequate working conditions, mainly the high ratio of patients per nurse.

That was the message hundreds of nurses from across the state brought to the steps of the Texas Capitol on Thursday.

Of the 155,707 registered nurses in the state, 31,666, or 20.3 percent, do not practice the profession because they consider it unsafe, mainly because of the high number of patients assigned to each nurse, usually eight to one, said organizers of the rally.

"Just in Austin, Texas, 28 percent of the nurses do not practice," said Beverly Leonard, who said she has 40 years of experience. "They will not practice because of the conditions they are required to work under."

So, the nurses, who are members of the National Nurse Organizing Committee, are asking the Texas Legislature to lower the nurse-to-patients ratio to four, just like in California, Leonard said.

"When you have too many patients there are a lot of near misses, lots of near misses," Leonard said. As a result, "at least 78,000 patients will die unnecessarily this year nationwide because there are not enough people like us, nurses."

Jesse Romero, who lobbies the Legislature on behalf of the organization, said the nurses are confident that, given the acute nurse shortage in the state, the caregivers will persuade some legislators to introduce a bill that would lower the nurse-to-patient ratio.

Citing figures obtained from the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners, Romero pointed out that in Lubbock County, for example, there are 2,702 full-time registered nurses, 304 part-time. But there are also 69 who changed professions this year and 501, or 18 percent, who prefer to be unemployed rather than work, Romero added.

However, the solution to the nurse shortage may not be as simple as Leonard, Romero and others claim, said Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, who in the upcoming session - with the help of Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock - plans to ask the Legislature to fund a new nursing school at Angelo State University, which is now part of the Texas Tech System.

"I am certainly receptive to their point of view," Darby said. "But I think that the nurse shortage that we have is far more complex than that and we'll take a good look at the problem when we are back in session. I am hopeful that we will pass the kind of legislation that is needed to address the problem."